Three biggest position battles for Seahawks this offseason
By Lee Vowell
Every running back after Chris Carson
Seattle currently has seven running backs on its bloated 90-man roster. This doesn’t count fullback Nick Bellore. The Seahawks are likely to keep at most five running backs and this includes Bellore. So three tailbacks will need to be let go.
The problem with this group is that only Chris Carson is a sure-thing to be very good if healthy. And Carson hasn’t yet played a full season and may never do as he is a physical back who, while punishing opposing tacklers, also punishes his own body.
The most logical choice as the number-two to Carson is Rashaad Penny. Penny gets hurt too much, though, and has not shown that he can be relied upon to be very good for long stretches. Penny has shown the potential to be a good NFL running back as he has size and speed but Seattle chose this offseason not to pick up his fifth-year option in 2022 for a good reason: Penny, in essence, gets paid to rehab or sit on the bench more than he gets paid to produce yards on the field.
Things drop off even more after Penny. DeeJay Dallas was forced into action when Carson and company were injured during the middle of 2020 and while he played hard Dallas in no way showed he could be a number one back.
Travis Homer has looked pedestrian in his two seasons in Seattle and only shows real value as a fill-in kick returner, but even there he is not exciting. He just doesn’t turn the ball over.
Alex Collins runs hard and has had some success in the NFL (with the Ravens) and might as well be Seattle’s third tailback in the rotation simply because he is not as bad as the other players involved.
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Seattle’s running backs get hurt every year and the last two seasons at key times the Seahawks have had games where not just one productive back has to sit out but the top two or three. Whoever Pete Carroll decides to be the third and fourth tailbacks to make the 2021 roster will be important as they are likely to get meaningful snaps at some point in the year.